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This chapter deals with firms’ relationships in particular with political actors when expanding in emerging markets. Our main purpose is to illustrate the importance of including such relationships when describing how firms develop insidership in networks in these markets. Emerging markets are often described as if they pose similar challenges but we will focus on the heterogeneity and how firms handle the diversity of the non-business foreign environment. Based on experiences from three Western multinationals — Sandvik, Ericsson and ABB — the main challenges in China, South Africa and Turkey are described. In addition to relationships with political actors, the discussion indicates the importance of also including other non-business actors, such as NGOs. The cases also illustrate that knowledge acquired in one cultural setting may not easily be transferred to another since the contexts are so different.

The present work is devoted to the numerical study of the stability of shallow jet. The effects of important parameters on the stability behavior for large scale shallow jets are considered and investigated. Connections between the stability theory and observed features reported in the literature are emphasized. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A linear stability analysis of shallow jet incorporating the effects of bottom topography, bed friction and viscosity has been carried out by using the shallow water stability equation derived from the depth averaged shallow water equations in conjunction with both Chézy and Manning resistance formulae. Effects of the following main factors on the stability of shallow water jets are examined: Rossby number, bottom friction number, Reynolds number, topographic parameters, base velocity profile and resistance model. Special attention has been paid to the Coriolis effects on the jet stability by limiting the rotation number in the range of Ro∈[0, 1.0].

It is found that the Rossby number may either amplify or attenuate the growth of the flow instability depending on the values of the topographic parameters. There is a regime where the near cancellation of Coriolis effects due to other relevant parameters influences is responsible for enhancement of stability. The instability can be suppressed by the bottom friction when the bottom friction number is large enough. The amplification rate may become sensitive to the relatively small Reynolds number. The stability region using the Manning formula is larger than that using the Chézy formula. The combination of these effects may stabilize or destabilize the shallow jet flow. These results of the stability analysis are compared with those from the literature.

Results of linear stability analysis on shallow jets along roughness bottom bed are presented. Different from the previous studies, this paper includes the effects of bottom topography, Rossby number, Reynolds number, resistance formula and bed friction. It is found that the influence of Reynolds number on the stability of the jet is notable for relative small value. Therefore, it is important to experimental investigators that the viscosity should be considered with comparison to the results from inviscid assumption. In contrast with the classical analysis, the use of multi-parameters of the base velocity and topographic profile gives an extension to the jet stability analysis. To characterize the large scale motion, besides the bottom friction as proposed in the related literature, the Reynolds number Re, Rossby number Ro, the topographic parameters and parameters controlling base velocity profile may also be important to the stability analysis of shallow jet flows.

Wayfinding efficiency is an extremely influential factor to improve users' library interior experience. However, few research has studied the different functions of various wayfinding signages for university library users through mobile visual experiment. To fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between university library signage system design and patrons' wayfinding behavior features.

In this article, an eye movement tracking method was introduced to record eye movement data during the wayfinding process of participants in the library interior, targeting the cognition and psychology of library users in the wayfinding signage system. The visual guiding usability of landmarks, informational signages and directional signages were quantitatively tested, and the fixation on the signage system between orientation strategy users and route strategy users was compared. This study also investigated the effects of library users' spatial anxiety and environmental familiarity on their fixation on the area of interest of the wayfinding signage system using the differential test and regression.

This paper observed that informational signage had the best visual navigating competence. The difference of fixation duration and searching duration between patrons used various wayfinding strategies was significant. The informational signage was most attended by the route strategy users, and the orientation strategy users rarely focused on the directional signage. And participants with high anxiety tended to ignore the visually auxiliary function of the landmarks but paid attention to the directional signage. The participants with low anxiety could capture the landmarks that could not be easily found by the route strategy users. And participants less familiar with the environment were more sensitive to the landmarks. Furthermore, this paper offers optimization measures for university library wayfinding signage system, from the perspectives of informational signage understandability improvement, directional signage physical specification design and wayfinding assistant system with automatic landmark technology.

This article adds to the relatively sparse literature on university library user wayfinding experimental study in China. The experimental findings of this paper also have important practical implications for academic libraries' wayfinding system evaluation. The whole process could be seen as a repeatable and standard framework and methodology to inspect university library's wayfinding signage system usability and user wayfinding behavior performance.

The purpose of the control method proposed in this paper is to address the problem of the poor anti-interference of the suspension winding current in the traditional bearingless induction motor (BL-IM) direct suspension force control process.

A model predictive direct suspension force control of a BL-IM based on sliding mode observer is proposed in this paper. The model predictive control (MPC) is introduced to the traditional direct suspension force control to improve the anti-interference of the suspension current. A sliding mode flux linkage observer is designed and applied to the MPC system, which reduces the error of the parameter observation and improves the robustness of the system. The strategy is designed and implemented in the MATLAB/Simulink and the two-level AC speed regulation platform.

The simulation and experimental results show that the performance of the BL-IM under the control method proposed in this paper is better than that under the traditional direct suspension force control, and the suspension performance of the motor and the anti-interference of the control system are improved.

This study helps to improve the suspension performance of the motor and the anti-interference of the control system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between tax evasion, political/public corruption and increased taxation in Zimbabwe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The study as a descriptive survey used questionnaires and interviews as research instruments for collecting data.

The findings revealed that most SMEs are no longer paying some form of taxes as expected since the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the 2% tax levy on all bank electronic transactions greater than US$10 from October 2018.

The paper recommends that the government should create an independent anti-corruption committee with strong monitoring and regulatory mechanism so as to fight political/public corruption; hence, creating a paradigm of trust and confidence among different economic players. Lastly, the tax authorities should engage all the key economic players when crafting the country’s tax laws/rates so as to promote a sense of equity, equality and economic transparency among citizens.

This article explores the scientific construction of library olfactory space, based on the case of the olfactory space in the Jiangsu University library. It specifically focuses on understanding the interaction between the physical architectural space of the library and users’ olfactory perception and behavioral activities, with the ultimate goal of creating a deeply integrated olfactory experience in the Jiangsu University Library.

In this article, an empirical research method was used to gather perceptions from 30 university student users regarding the library olfactory space and to understand their olfactory preferences and requirements for its construction. Through qualitative analysis of the interview texts, the study identified correlations between user perceptions and elements of the library olfactory space.

The qualitative analysis of user interview texts and results from the library olfactory space design experiment contributed to the design proposal for the Jiangsu University Library olfactory space. The design proposal for the Jiangsu University Library olfactory space is provided and includes library architecture, activity context, functional services, olfactory experience design and technological applications.

This case study takes the environment, development strategy and user needs of the Jiangsu University Library as its unique research background and as such is not universal or generalizable to other libraries.

This article differs from others by advocating for the innovative architectural spatial design of libraries through olfactory experience, breaking the traditional perception of libraries as solely through visual and auditory senses.

Human resource management and organizational change.

Students on an introductory course on Human Resource Management or a specialization course of HRM such as change management and organizational development. This case study can be taught at the MBA level.

This case study can serve as the base for understanding and identifying the various characteristics that relate to revolutionizing HR functions with the help of digitalization. It can also be elaborated further to include the challenges that a company has to face after it decides to establish IT software based on operations. This case is an evolutionary story of a large-scale Pakistani company, Pak Electron Ltd. (PEL) which has been in operation for almost 60 years. The top management decided to move from a traditional administrative system towards setting up an HR department for the first time. The case states the salient features of the traditional administrative system, issues faced by the company in the setup of a new HR system and digital HR system along with the employees’ views and perceptions on these systems.

Students are expected to learn the following: the various characteristics of a paper-file based traditional administrative system; the various features of an IT-based modern HR system; the decision background and basis for making the switch to the new contemporary HR system; and the reaction of employees against changes in organizational systems.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS: 6: Human Resource Management.

Conflicts among top management team (TMT) members have a significant impact on sustainable development of family enterprises in China. The complex attributes of different kinds of conflicts in a TMT have dual effects on firm performance and its stability. Thus, avoiding conflicts in a TMT through a systematic conflict management strategy is very important. This paper aims to therefore investigate how to maximize the performance and income level of the TMT in family enterprises through managing conflict systematically, while adopting the best conflict coping strategies.

In this study, the authors apply conflict coping strategies as a useful tool of conflict management and propose five kinds of dynamic conflict coping strategies among TMT members. Repeated game and multi-agent simulation by computer experiment are used to dynamically simulate the rules and evolution of individual conflict coping strategy choices.

It is found that with the passage of time, different conflict coping strategies have different effects on earnings of individuals and teams at different conflict levels. It is also revealed that conflict coping strategies affect not only the earnings of individuals and teams but also their distribution; it also reflects the conflict level in TMT of a family enterprise but in reverse.

This study contributes to the existing literature on conflict management in relevance to the choice and revolution of conflict coping strategies in a Chinese business culture context. It focuses on strengthening the unity and cooperation of TMT members. Controlling the conflict level of TMT members at a reasonable level, investigating the primary cause of conflict and identifying its nature lead to better performance of the TMT and the sustainable development of Chinese family enterprises. Based on these outcomes, different conflict coping strategies can be appropriately used to solve TMT conflicts.

Business ecosystem is described as a web of loose relationships, thereby posing some challenges to coordination. In attempt to ensure coordination in business relationships, scholars have proposed relational and contractual governance mechanisms. Hence, this study aims to examine the effects of governance mechanisms on coordination in the pharmaceutical business ecosystem (BE), with the potential mediating effects of closeness and opportunistic behavior.

The study adopted quantitative approach with cross-sectional survey research design to collect data from the business ecosystem of pharmaceutical company X in Ghana. A structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale was employed to collect data. Analysis was based on 173 institutions (both local and international) selected from pharmaceutical BE. Various validity and reliability checks were conducted before the presentation of the actual analysis, which was conducted using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression in Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS).

The results of the study revealed that both relational and contractual governance have a direct positive effect on coordination between pharmaceutical BE members and the focal firm. The effect of contractual governance on coordination is however, partially mediated by opportunistic behavior. Finally, closeness also fully mediated the effect of relational governance on coordination.

The study builds on the governance mechanisms in exchange relationship, which was hitherto largely limited to the dyadic and triadic business network, partnerships and strategic alliances studies. The contribution to BE literature provides further understanding into transaction cost economics and relational exchange theory, which was dominantly applied in dyadic relationships ties such as partnerships, alliances and networks.

In the era of digitalization, digital technology has transformed businesses and created enormous opportunities for organizations worldwide. Unsurprisingly, research on digital transformation has garnered significant interest among academics in recent decades. However, this study aims to recognize the key and holistic antecedents influencing digital transformation in manufacturing firms. This study also investigates the indirect relationships of antecedents with firm performance.

The hypothesis was investigated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The data was collected from 279 employees through a self-administered survey of manufacturing firms.

The results described a significant and positive impact of competitive pressure, leadership role, organization culture, organization mindfulness, government regulation, and IT readiness on digital transformation and firm performance. Furthermore, digital transformation partially mediates the relationship between antecedents and firm performance.

The study finds a holistic perspective of the critical antecedents of digital transformation using the mediation role of digital transformation and moderating effects of firm agility. Additionally, all antecedents have a significant association with Firm Performance.